Coil Overs?

[NIZ30]

i bought new 18" wheels for my R32. Now i am unhappy with the gap between the wheels and the guard. It is pretty much the same as it was with 17", but the 18's seem to show up the gap more.

anyways...the question.

Went to local shop, made enquiries. Seems I could get new springs ($400) or coilovers ($1200). I am selling my old rims for about the same price as the coilovers, but are they worth it? Or should I pocket the change?

I am not (really) interested in drifting. I want to drive in style and relative comfort. The person doing the work is a previous head mechanic for a Ferrari race team, so I have been assured the suspension is going to be setup well.

Sorry I don't know what type of coil over. I do know they are new, not overly stiff (possibly Koni).

Any help on this would be good as the car is being done on Monday, whichever way I go.

[adam 32]

coilovers obvious advantage it their height adjustable. so you can set them to any height... more often that not the height you want isnt legal, so it helps when trying to get it over the pits, just wind it back up again!!

it also depends on what shocks uve got now? are they overly hard? alot of cars come over with very stiff shocks like GABs or KYBs, in which case this would be a perfect opportunity to replace them with konis or bilsteins

[NIZ30]

I have GAB adjustables on at the moment (set to hard). If coilovers are anything like these in ride quality i'll be very happy to go this way.

mmm...too low. Another tick in the road worthiness.

[Guest MFX_R33]

How long is a piece of string?.....

Unless you know what type of shocks and springs you are getting how can you guess on ride comfort?

Coil overs themselves do not really affect ride comfort, and they can be made to be set up with any spring/ shock combo. The only thing if any you may notice is if they do not hav the silencers they may clunk over bumps as the spring is not fixed (this happens with my HKS Hiper D's, but I like it).

Jeff.

[Steve]

I have Ohlins suspension (coils and adjustable shocks) and the ride is bloody awesome, my brother upraged his springs (height and rate) with stock shocks, the ride is annoying to say the least, it was better stock as the shocks don't keep up with his new springs.

$1200 for decent coilover suspension is a bargain - whiteline new coilovers are around the $3500 mark - and as they are adjustable, you can dial in the ride you prefer, and change the dampening of the shock, it doesn't get much better does it??

I would recommend if you do change your springs, change the shocks to match any new spring rate.

If you are just going for a height change and keeping the same spring rate I wouldn't have a clue (only be guessing) if you would have to change the shock.

[Steve]

NIZ30, oops didn't read the thread properly, please disregard the statement about upgrading your shocks as I noticed you have GAB adjustables. I suppose your main task would be to find a spring rate that you find comfy.

Steve

[NIZ30]

The choice has been taken away from me (kinda).

The $1200 was not the real price as the owner of the go fast shop found out today. They sell the commonwhore ones for this price, but the suppliers realize there are more imports that want this suspension so they charge more for essentially the same thing. Skyline ones were $2400.

So springs it is.

But, as I said earlier a Ferrari team mechanic who specialises in suspension is doing the work. He has my car for the full day to measure eveything to get the optimum handling. Quoted $440, so I get to make some money selling my wheels.

[51jay]

NIZ30 would be interested to see how your suspension job turned out. I opted for Whiteline coilovers with DMS 50mm fully adjustable struts I'm still in the process of getting it set up just right